Supersize Me-ow
01/07/2009
By Matt Gardner
Some people have strange bedtime rituals, though most will struggle to top one South African woman''s sleeping arrangement.
Riana Van Neiuwenhuizen, who is based in Bloemfontein, South Africa, shares her bed with no less than two golden lions, two tigers, three white lions and four fully-grown cheetahs.
The unconventional relationship was born out of the need to protect the animals, which were left to fend for themselves by their mother.
Ms Van Neiuwenhuizen said: "In captivity, it''s common for the mother to abandon one or two of her cubs.
"When they are tiny, I bottle-feed them all through the night and day."
And while they do not feel the need to use their primal urges against their adoptive mother, the big cats are more than happy to systematically take furniture and curtains apart through a number of rituals, such as claw sharpening.
Recently, Natasha Kaplinsky - another mum, albeit a more traditional one - took a £300,000 pay cut in order to allow her to get home for her baby son''s bedtime each night.
